Book Review - Even if we Break by Marieke Nijkamp

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp comes a shocking new thriller about a group of friends tied together by a game and the deadly weekend that tears them apart.

FIVE friends go to a cabin.
FOUR of them are hiding secrets.
THREE years of history bind them.
TWO are doomed from the start.
ONE person wants to end this.
NO ONE IS SAFE.

Are you ready to play?

My rating:

I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I seem to really enjoy Marieke’s writing, and when I learned this had queer and autistic rep, this book shot up my TBR! And I’m glad I did, this was another one I marathoned through in one go, I couldn’t put it down.

Firstly, it’s set as a D&D murder mystery style game and I am SO jealous that I can’t play that with my D&D crew, it sounded so fun. Secondly, I really enjoyed how the role play element blended into the real lives, and how the writing gave us enough to see both along side the thriller. We also really get to know the characters in a short time.

The thriller element, while not the best I’ve even seen, was pretty well done. It concentrates more on the “why” and “what next” than the who – I figured it out pretty early on, and I think you’re supposed to. I have seen a couple of people who didn’t enjoy this part, but it worked pretty well for me. The tension and suspense is well built, and we know enough about the characters for their actions to make sense.

Out of the five main characters, we also have some frankly amazing rep. There is a trans guy, a non binary character and an autistic character. Plus some great disability rep. It was really great to see so much, without it pulling the focus of the book I loved our main characters. Plus the romance element between Finn and Ever is super cute.

I definitely recommend this. 4 stars.